You have chosen the right location, kept an eye on the weather, planned the perfect composition, and have experience shooting and stacking hundreds of night sky images for the result to be effective. However, at home, you may discover after it’s all done that something didn’t go according to plan. Luckily, you still have post-processing to work magic on these images. For me, these unexpected issues cost me almost two hours of post-processing.

A photographer has the ability to transform even rough water into beautiful shapes. All you need is the right location and basic photography equipment. With the help of a few tips and tricks, you’ll quickly start getting some captivating shots. Let’s take a look at how it’s done.

When shooting outdoors, landscapes and people are probably the first things that come to mind. However, there are plenty of other opportunities for outdoor photography. A commonly available, ever-present subject is birds. There are several ways to capture birds, from simple methods to those that will push the limits of both you and your camera.

You can carry your camera equipment with you in a variety of carrying cases or bags. One of the most popular solutions is a camera backpack. There are plenty to choose from and there is one out there that suits just about anyone. It’s important to consider which features are the most important to you.

For a landscape to be truly spectacular, you’ll want the sun in the frame so you can observe the interplay of lights and shadows. The issue is that this puts unrealistic demands on your camera’s sensor. A common solution is to take several images at different brightness levels. But how do you combine them? Auto HDR doesn’t always work. So for greater control over your results, there is a manual process you can use to ensure your results are exactly what you want.

You may have already noticed that in some of your pictures the sun looks like a star. This can be a stylish, sought-after effect. You also may have noticed that at other times, sunstars don’t appear in your photos. On another day, you might get a sun star with a different shape or length of its rays. There are several factors at play that affect how sunstars are made. Read how to create sunstars when shooting against the sun and other light sources. 

The photography you see from landscape photographers on social media often doesn’t show all of the hours or even days of work that was put in beforehand. This may include choosing the right location or waiting for the timing to be just right. It’s also not uncommon for a well thought-out plan to be scrapped due to bad weather, and the photographer is left with no choice but to go home empty-handed or with pictures different than what they expected. The unassuming cover photo for this article came about in a complicated way and its creation was no coincidence either. Read the story of how it came to be.   

A powerful light source is an invaluable tool for photographers. Flash photography is commonly used in the studio, but also does its job outdoors and can drastically change the scene. The only problem is that the range of offerings is enormous and can make your head spin. We’ll walk you through the different parameters and specifications so you know what to watch out for and what you don’t need to worry about when it comes to choosing your flash.

After choosing the lighting for your studio, the next most important step is to choose the background. The majority of people picture a roll of seamless backdrop paper as their studio background, but there are many more options out there. So many that there’s no way you’ll be able to use all of them. Still, it’s a good idea to be aware of the basic background options available to you.

There are many of you out there that might be considering a start in studio photography. Aside from renting a studio, there’s also the option of creating a space of your own design. In this case, one of the most important decisions you’ll be making will be choosing the lighting. This includes not only choosing specific brands of lighting, but also the types of lighting. There are more options out there than you may think.